Coinbase Announces Plans to Add ERC20 Token Support

San Francisco based exchange Coinbase has announced on its official blog that it plans to support the Ethereum ERC20 technical standard.

Coinbase Adds ERC20

Ethereum ERC20 which stands for Ethereum Request for Comment 20 is a technical standard used for smart contracts on the Ethereum Blockchain. There are tens of thousands of ERC20 tokens in existence as they have become an increasingly popular way for teams to effectively build smart contracts.

The Coinbase update, planned to roll out in the coming months, will eventually allow for support of ERC20 assets across the line of Coinbase services and products. Currently, Coinbase isn’t detailing the support of any specific assets or features.

We are announcing this both internally and to the public as consistent with our process for adding new assets.

This announcement comes nearly a month after Coinbase added Segwit support for transactions on the exchange. A move that significantly cut transaction fees on the platform.

What will ERC20 Support Mean

While this early announcement is short on details it’s a good sign for those interested in ERC20 assets.

So how does this added support for ERC20 tokens change the Coinbase lineup of products and services?

Coinbase has said that the custody team is in the process of evaluating assets to support for withdrawals and deposits suggesting there will likely be support for more assets than just those available on GDAX or Coinbase.The GDAX team is waiting on clarification of rules and regulations before deciding on which ERC20 coins they will support.Any asset listed on GDAX Coinbase Asset Management will add to the Coinbase Index “on a market capitalization weighted basis.”Coinbase will only list assets after they have been listed on GDAX and have been evaluated using “factors such as liquidity, stability and other market health metrics.”Coinbase has stressed that having a listing on GDAX does not ensure a listing on Coinbase in their announcement. Suggesting that there is a good chance that GDAX will have mores assets listed than Coinbase.ERC20 support on Coinbase will allow for the safe recovery of ERC20 assets mistakenly sent to Coinbase Ethereum addresses.Though there is currently no plan for ERC20 support for Coinbase Commerce at the time of the initial rollout there is potential for that to change in the future.

The Coinbase announcement didn’t include an exact schedule for when support will begin but details should be forthcoming in the weeks to come as the official launch date gets nearer.

The announcement could not come at a better time for Ethereum which has hemorrhaged almost 50% in the past month and is trading at its lowest level since mid-December.